Prospective Rest

[KeroseneDream]

Aside from Netjets, which of the fractionals have prospective rest policies in force?

 

[CE750Driver]

None that do it legally.

 

[FLYLOW22]

None.

14 hours of duty (max), followed by 10 hours (min) rest.

Repeat 7 times, enjoy.

I guess this is a reason we like our pesky little Union over here.

 

[B19 Flyer]

None that do it legally.

All rest is prospective in nature. .... See the FAA legal interpretation below.

_____________________

June 24, 1991
Mr. Fredrick G. Pappas, Jr.
Director, Flight Services
Midwest Corporate Aviation
PO Box 8067
Wichita, KS 67208

Dear Mr. Pappas:

Thank you for your letter of April 12, 1989, requesting an interpretation of the appropriate crew rest requirements for your fixed wing air ambulance operations. We apologize for the lengthy delay in answering your letter and thank you for your patience.

In your letter, you give us the following background concerning your current procedure:

Fixed wing air ambulance crews are scheduled for 24 hour standby. During this period, they are required to wear a pager and must be able to respond to the airport and the aircraft within 30 minutes. However, they are not confined to any location and are free to stay at home or participate in any activity within a 30 minute radius of the airport.

Crew duty time starts when they are paged and continues for 14 hours. (Flight time is normally 2 - 5 hours.) At that time, the crew is "down" for 10 hours of crew rest. When the crew rest period is satisfied, the crew is back on 24 hour standby.
You ask three questions based on the above procedure. Each of your questions is set forth in turn below and is followed by our answer.

Question 1: Does this procedure satisfy the crew rest requirements of FAR Part 135?

As you know, section 135.267(d) requires that each assignment provide for at least 10 consecutive hours of rest during the 24 hour period that precedes the planned completion time of the assignment. We cannot tell from the information in your letter when the flight time is planned to be completed, and we are therefore unable to determine whether this procedure satisfies the rest requirements of Part 135.

In order to give you a definitive interpretation, we need the precise facts of specific situations and the meaning which you attribute to terms such as standby, "down" time, etc. These terms are not self-defining nor, as far as we are aware, do they have any commonly accepted meaning in the air transportation industry. To the contrary, it has been our experience that the meaning and consequences of these terms vary among the various air carriers.

Subject to such precise facts as we may encounter upon examination of further information from you, we have set forth below the following general principles concerning the rest requirements in an attempt to be of as much help as possible.

The rest requirements in Part 135 are triggered by duty aloft in air transportation. If one starts with the assumption that a rest period is required, then certain requirements must be met in order for the time to qualify as a rest period.

First, a rest period must be prospective in nature. Stated another way, a flight crewmember must be told in advance that he or she will be on a rest period for the duration required by the regulations. In addition, a rest period must be free of all restraint. However, the Agency's interpretations hold that receipt of one telephone call or beeper call does not constitute a violation of a rest period provision. Moreover, a flight crewmember in a rest period must be free of present responsibility for work should the occasion arise.

Question 2: Does a pager check during the 24 hour standby period interrupt crew rest? (E.g., does a pager check start the "crew-duty clock"?)
As discussed above, standby does not constitute crew rest.

The pager check does not interrupt crew rest because crew rest is not taking place.

In contrast, if a flight crewmember is not on standby but is genuinely on crew rest and receives a telephone or pager call from the certificate holder, the Agency does not consider the rest period to have been interrupted.
Question 3: Is the entire 24 hour period "crew duty time" even though the crews are scheduled for no activity unless they are paged?

No, not in the sense that it produces the need for the rest periods required by the FAR. As discussed under Question 1 above, rest periods are normally triggered in the FAR only by duty aloft in air transportation. However, where a crewmember's flight time has triggered a particular rest requirement in the FAR, time spent in standby status will not satisfy such rest requirement.

Although our answers herein are general in nature, we hope we have been able to be of some assistance to you. We will be glad to consider more specific information which you may wish to submit.

Sincerely,

Donald P. Byrne
Assistant Chief Counsel
Regulations and Enforcement Division

 

[KeroseneDream]

B19,

Thanks for your reply. I am familiar that letter as well as the Whitlow discussion. However the FAA obviously has not adopted the interpretation throughout the administration as the majority of on-demand operators are given the blessing operate without prospective rest by their POIs. NJA's contract has once again demonstrated how much unions have contributed to aviation safety while the FAA (read enforcing body) sits at idle, as the inspectors merely want to protect their jobs, and not deal with the backlash they would receive from the charter managements if they did what was obviously right.

My question is not about the proper definition of prospective rest, rather which carriers abide by that interpretation. It doesn't sound like many.

Thanks.

 

[Ultra Grump]

First, a rest period must be prospective in nature. Stated another way, a flight crewmember must be told in advance that he or she will be on a rest period for the duration required by the regulations. In addition, a rest period must be free of all restraint. However, the Agency's interpretations hold that receipt of one telephone call or beeper call does not constitute a violation of a rest period provision. Moreover, a flight crewmember in a rest period must be free of present responsibility for work should the occasion arise.

I believe the other fracs (not NJA) partly adhere to the prospective rest requirements, in that they give the crewmembers the required 10 off, but they are bending it by requiring the pilots to accept a call or page after the 10-hour mark (which is also how NJA used to do it, until 91K).

 

[KeroseneDream]

Thanks Grump, that is how my carrier is currently operating. Turning a lemon in to Lynchburg Lemonade, I do like spending my time beyond 10 hrs rest at the Hilton vs. hot standby at the FBO. In my experience our charter department has been very understanding when the crew vetoes an all night trip due to fatigue.

But I have been in the biz long enough to know that courtesy is the first thing out the window when economics change. It's good to know what other carriers have going when marshaling the troops for battle.

 

[1234abcd]

Believe it or not, CS finally complies with 135/91K rest requirements also. How they got away without for so many years is a mystery.

 

[ITFL]

One of the many improvements at Flight Options, since the Union was voted in, is that our pilots have forced management to understand that prospective rest is a fact of life and understand that they have no choice but to abide by it.

Now that is not to say that they have officially lifted their ridiculous policy that a pilot is "expected" to answer his or her phone after 10 hours of rest. But what has changed is the majority of our pilots, empowered by the Union are now failing to do so. And you know what not a single pilot has been disciplined because of it. Why? Because management knows they cannot.

So score one for the good guys, score one for aviation safety. The 1108 like many other aviation Unions has done more for aviation safety than any company out there, or the FAA for that matter. The FAA makes rulings but they fail to enforce them. Our POI signed off on this "expected" to answer the phone B.S. knowing that it was an intimidation tactic, on the part of management. It was not until the Union stepped up and said, "now wait a minute" that the true intent of the rulings were enforced in practice.

 

[B19 Flyer]

The 1108 like many other aviation Unions has done more for aviation safety than any company out there, or the FAA for that matter.

You are right. The safest place for any airplane is on the ground and unions have been responsible for placing more airplanes on the ground and pilots out of work than any other single entity.

Rest has always been prospective in nature and one phone call does not interupt rest. Unions have nothing to do with that.